This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 2 of this Preprint.
This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 2 of this Preprint.
The role of ocean circulation in transforming surface forcing into interannual-to-multidecadal oceanic variability is an area of ongoing debate. Here, a novel method, establishing exact causal links, is used to quantitatively determine the role of ocean active and passive processes in transforming stochastic surface forcing into heat content variability. To this end, we use a global ocean model in which the dynamical response to forcing can be switched on (fully active) or off (purely passive) and consider the resulting effect on heat content variance. While the ocean passive processes mainly control the surface variance (over 92\%) in all basins, most regions show the importance of active processes at depth. This role is particularly important for full-depth North Atlantic heat content, which we investigate further, highlighting signatures of the meridional overturning circulation.
https://doi.org/10.31223/X5TS49
Climate, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
ocean, climate, Heat content, variability, passive, decadal predictability
Published: 2021-01-28 12:48
CC BY Attribution 4.0 International
Data Availability (Reason not available):
(A comprehensive data availability statement is included in the manuscript)
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